Love is in the air this week, but a Devon scientist has warned how contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs) could be deadly this Valentine's Day.

Dr Tina Joshi, a University of Plymouth lecturer in molecular microbiology is giving a Valentine’s lecture at Techniquest, Cardiff, explaining that the problem of antimicrobial resistance could mean that STIs go untreated in the future.

Figures show that more than 400,000 STIs are diagnosed in England every year, and antimicrobial resistance is making STIs harder to treat. It expected to kill more people than cancer by 2050.

Dr Tina Joshi, School of Biomedical & Healthcare Sciences Staff

Dr Joshi has explained why people should take precautions and not rely on antibiotics for a cure.

She said: “Unprotected sex is nothing new in our society. People think, ‘what’s the worst that could happen’? If you get a nasty condition, you can be treated with antibiotics. Right?

“Not necessarily. Antibiotics are ceasing to be as effective, and imagine where we’d be then? Such is people’s overuse or misuse of antibiotics that bacteria are becoming resistant to them.

“Drug-resistant infections kill around 700,000 people worldwide each year, and this figure could increase to ten million by 2050.

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“In short, antibiotic resistance could kill more people than cancer in the next 30 years. Without antibiotics, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis, which are caused by bacteria, wouldn’t be treatable.

“Even worse, STIs often go undiagnosed meaning they don’t get treated until it’s too late, which is scary considering that the most recent Public Health England figures show 420,000 STI diagnoses were made in 2016.”

Public Health England is currently running a campaign to encourage condom use to reduce the rates of STIs.

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When left undiagnosed or untreated, STIs can result in serious complications and long-term health problems; including pelvic inflammatory disease in women, which can lead to cervical cancer, or infertility in men and women.

Dr Joshi concluded: “The only way to prevent STIs is through barrier protection like condoms, otherwise we’re looking to a cure, and figures show there might not be one in the near future.

“Hundreds of thousands of people engage in unprotected sex, and the STIs reported are only the ones we know about.

“It’s Valentine’s Day and I’m not telling anyone not to go and have fun, but beware that those dangerous liaisons might be more dangerous than initially thought if you don’t use protection and understand the antimicrobial resistance threat facing all of us.”